Pioneer Masters is an odd set to evaluate. Being Arena-exclusive, none of the reprints here will impact secondary market prices at all. Instead, what this set will do is shift the landscape of digital Magic. These cards will, naturally, be the final push that Explorer needs to finally become Pioneer on the Arena client.
Beyond that, Pioneer Masters will also have a ton of impact on Magic’s other Arena-only formats, specifically Historic, Timeless, and Brawl. Of the 398 cards coming to Arena with this set, I believe these five will shake things up the most. Join me as we delve into the best reprints in Pioneer Masters.
5 | Chained To The Rocks
- Mana Value: W
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Enchantment – Aura
- Card Text: Enchant Mountain you control.
When Chained to the Rocks enters, exile target creature an opponent controls until Chained to the Rocks leaves the battlefield. (That creature returns under its owner’s control.)
Good removal spells are always in a bit of a weird space in Magic. Every deck in every format needs them, but they rarely get the kind of attention given to flashy bombs or combo pieces. To correct this historic injustice, I’ve decided to spotlight Chained to the Rocks on this list.
This isn’t a purely ideological inclusion, of course, Chained to the Rocks is a legitimately fantastic removal spell, good enough to see play across multiple formats. You’ll see it in Pioneer decks like Enigmatic Fires, and even Modern lists like Boros Energy. If your deck runs both red and white, you really need a good reason not to be playing this.
The ability to enchant nonbasic Mountains gives this relevance in any format with Shocklands, so Pioneer, Historic, Brawl, and Timeless should all be able to leverage it. This card isn’t going to totally open up new Arena archetypes like others on this list. It is going to be played in a huge number of decks, however, and help keep some of those new archetypes in line. For that reason, I think it’s worthy of standing among the best reprints in Pioneer Masters.
4 | Xenagos, God Of Revels
- Mana Value: 3RG
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Card Type: Legendary Enchantment Creature – God
- Stats: 6/5
- Card Text: Indestructible.
As long as your devotion to red and green is less than seven, Xenagos isn’t a creature. At the beginning of combat on your turn, another target creature you control gains Haste and gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is that creature’s power.
Next up we have the kind of flashy mythic that overshadows cards like Chained to the Rocks generally. Xenagos, God of Revels, or ‘Xenagod,’ as the cool kids put it, is an absolute powerhouse. While it’s difficult to turn into a creature, all you really care about here is that second ability. Turns out that doubling the stats of a creature and giving it Haste each turn is enough to close out a lot of games.
This card actually sees regular play in Pioneer, as a key piece in Indomitable Creativity decks. Cheating Xenagos out alongside Worldspine Wurm essentially gives you a 30/30 Trample/Haste immediately. In most cases, that’s enough to end the game right then and there. It’s also played fairly regularly in Jund Reanimator/Combo lists, where it can make your reanimator targets even more scary.
Beyond Pioneer, I’m most excited about Xenagos for Brawl. Gods make innately great Commanders due to their powerful abilities and built-in Indestructibility. Xenagos is no exception, and I could see him becoming an all-star in the format before long. It’s not just Xenagos, either. All 15 of the original Theros block God cards are in the set via the Devotion Bonus Sheet. This means a lot of new Brawl Commanders and a lot of new options for regular decks on Arena.
3 | Bring To Light
- Mana Value: 3GU
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Sorcery
- Card Text: Converge — Search your library for a creature, instant, or sorcery card with mana value less than or equal to the number of colors of mana spent to cast this spell, exile that card, then shuffle. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost.
Some cards are staples in decks, and some cards have whole decks named after them. Bring to Light is firmly in the latter category. One of the most popular decks in Pioneer, Niv to Light, draws clear inspiration from this classic sorcery. Tutoring and casting any card that costs five or less is an incredibly powerful effect and allows for some wild toolbox brews that can answer any given situation.
For that reason alone, the card is easily one of the best reprints in Pioneer Masters. Single-handedly bringing a meta deck onto Arena is praise-worthy in itself. The implications of Bring to Light for the client go far beyond that, however. As a tutor effect, I can see it becoming a regular addition to many Brawl decks. Additionally, there may be Timeless and Historic decks that can leverage it, too.
Magic’s digital formats overall are pretty combo-heavy, and Bring to Light is a fantastic combo card. As long as you have five mana to spend, it puts your whole deck at your disposal. There was really no way Wizards was going to leave this card out of the set, but it’s still fantastic to see nonetheless.
2 | Hidden Strings
- Mana Value: 1U
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Type: Sorcery
- Card Text: You may tap or untap target permanent, then you may tap or untap another target permanent.
Cipher (Then you may exile this spell card encoded on a creature you control. Whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of the encoded card without paying its mana cost.)
From one classic combo enabler to another, Hidden Strings is also finally making its Arena debut with Pioneer Masters. Much like Bring to Light, this is an essential piece in one of Pioneer’s most popular decks. In this case, Lotus Field Combo. Untapping two permanents for two mana doesn’t sound particularly impressive, but when you have a land that taps for three mana out it suddenly gets very spicy indeed.
By pairing Hidden Strings with Lotus Field and Vizier of Tumbling Sands, players can generate a ton of mana with which to dig for combo pieces. While it’s still not quite tier one, the deck did receive a boost in Foundations with Expedition Map, which keeps it relevant in the Pioneer format. Again, this reprint brings a key Pioneer deck to Arena, and for that alone, it gets some major points.
It’ll be particularly interesting to see how Hidden String impacts other Arena formats, however. Timeless in particular is a format all about the wild combos, so it may well adopt the Strings/Lotus Field engine to power some of those. I don’t see it so much in Brawl, but I wouldn’t be too surprised either. Hidden Strings is a card you underestimate at your peril.
1 | Urborg, Tomb Of Yawgmoth
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Legendary Land
- Card Text: Each land is a Swamp in addition to its other types.
Yup, you knew it was coming. There are a lot of great reprints in Pioneer Masters, but for experienced Magic players, one clearly stands out as the best. That card is perennially popular legendary land Urborg. The usual finance angle doesn’t apply to cards in this set, but the fact that Urborg is a $30 card after multiple reprints should clue you in as to just how powerful it is.
Name any Magic format and there’ll be decks in it that run Urborg. The reasoning behind this is quite simple. Since its ability applies to itself, Urborg is essentially a basic Swamp with an upside as long as you run only one copy. In the same way that Takenuma, Abandoned Mire is an auto-include in most black decks that can run it, Urborg is too. The mana fixing potential is just that good, even if it affects your opponent as well.
There are a ton of decks in Pioneer that run a one-of Urborg that will be glad to have it on Arena when the format launches. Rakdos Midrange, Dimir Aggro, Five-Color Soulflayer; the list goes on. If you’re a black deck in Pioneer, there’s little reason not to run this. I imagine this logic will extend to Historic, Timeless, and Brawl too once the post-release dust settles. Urborg is a stone-cold MTG classic, and you’d be wise to save a rare Wildcard for it when the set drops.
